Malcolm X’s family files lawsuit against FBI, CIA and NYPD over murder

The family of slain black civil rights activist Malcolm

The lawsuit states that the agencies were involved in the conspiracy and failed to stop the murder.

“We believe they all conspired to assassinate Malcolm X, one of the greatest thought leaders of the 20th century,” civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the family, said at a news conference.

Malcolm X was killed when three gunmen shot him 21 times as he prepared to speak in New York in 1965.

The lawsuit alleges that a “corrupt, unlawful and unconstitutional” relationship between law enforcement and “ruthless killers” led to the murder.

The connection between the institutions and the killers “went unchecked for years and was effectively concealed, condoned, protected and facilitated by government officials,” the lawsuit said.

It is stated that the NYPD, in coordination with the institutions, detained members of Malcolm X’s security team days before the shooting and deliberately removed these officers from the ballroom where Malcolm X was shot.

The lawsuit alleges that federal agents, including undercover agents, were in the ballroom at the time of the assassination and took no steps to intervene.

The family announced their decision intention to sue last year.

The NYPD said it would “decline to comment on pending litigation,” and the CIA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The FBI told The Associated Press it was “standard practice” not to comment on the case.

Malcolm He was 39 years old when he was killed.

A man who was a member of the Nation of Islam confessed to killing her.

In 2021, the convictions of two other men convicted of killing her were overturned after a New York state judge declared a miscarriage of justice.

The two men were later fully exonerated after the New York attorney general found that prosecutors withheld evidence that likely would have cleared them of murder.

The families of the wrongly convicted men sued and won $26 million from New York City and $10 million from New York state.

More on this story